Before you fly off the rails, you should know that I have Celiac disease — diagnosed by a doctor after years of agony. My body’s intolerance of gluten led me to spend much of my childhood curled in a ball holding my stomach against the worst imaginable pain. It gave me rashes, stunted my growth, and affected my physical and emotional life in myriad other ways. So, I fully understand the potential ramifications of a food allergy or intolerance. What I absolutely cannot stand, however, is the freedom we’ve taken as a society to just decide that entire food groups are not okay, without real cause. Is it for attention? Is it one more method of spoiling or babying our children? Is it a desperate attempt to climb aboard the trendy wagon of selective eating? I’m not quite sure. What I do know? It’s getting annoying.

It used to be that when I asked a server or grocer a question about the ingredients in a food, they responded with the information I needed or at least a mystified “I’m not sure,” followed by whatever investigating they could possibly do. These days, the first thing I get is an eye roll. The jury’s still out on whether Celiac is genetic, but I’m hoping my own kids won’t ever experience that reaction, or a plate of curiously “safe” food that makes them sick. But I know that if they do, it will have something to do with the fact that everyone is pretending to have allergies these days, and the people who make, serve, and sell our food are getting frustrated.

Food allergies can have devastating, even deadly, consequences. I am absolutely not denying that. I will do everything in my power to ensure your child is not exposed to whatever real allergy he or she has. But I know a mom who is so terrified of food allergies that she insists on a peanut-free environment for her child — even though her child has tested negative for food allergies three times.

Another friend has convinced herself that her child’s negative food allergy screening must be flawed, so she insists that he is definitely allergic to everything. The poor kid is non-dairy, non-gluten, non-soy, non-fun, and it just sucks. I want to shake this woman and shout, “Show me the proof!“ Why are you making your kid subsist on grain-free wafers and organic clementines when there is not a stitch of medical proof that he is allergic to, well, anything?

Faking a food allergy does more than annoy me. It instills fear in your child and creates a foundation for food obsessions. The exhaustion and stress that I live with as a Celiac is something I would never wish on my children. Why create the panic where it doesn’t need to exist? I know you think it sounds cool, or precious, or that it makes you look like you care more… or something. But if you want to live a food-excluding lifestyle, why not just go vegan? Or all-organic? Or only buy local? There are so many ways that you can adjust your family’s eating habits to make a real, sustainable impact. At least exert that control impulse in a way that benefits them and the community.

There are also so many ways that you can make your child feel loved and special. Exclusionary eating is a little corner of hell that I would do absolutely anything to not have to thrust my kid into. Instead of leaning on potential allergies as a crutch, shouldn’t you be knocking down every door to find out exactly what you can do to keep your children from developing food sensitivities? These days it seems like every time I log onto Facebook, a mom is crying out for vegan, nondairy, gluten-free, nut-free treat recipes because her kid wants to celebrate a birthday in school and the classroom is everything-free.

I can’t be alone in thinking that a good portion of these allergies are invented, or dependent on other factors — otherwise, why is it that we all survived a childhood where special occasions were punctuated by fun food? Why do we have to spoil everyone’s celebration, especially when the proof is just not in the vegan pudding? Had I been diagnosed with Celtic as a little kid, I’d be willing to bet you that nut-free banana loaf that my mom would have been fine sending in a gluten-free cookie for me to nosh on while other kids enjoyed their gluten-filled birthday treat. And my life would not have been ruined by having to tote a separate snack.

I’m doing my best to create a well-rounded diet and read every bit of literature I can find about preventing food allergies in my kids. I won’t risk poisoning your kid by serving something you say they can’t have, but I will do a (secret) eye roll if I suspect you of being a faker.

I have allergies (anaphylaxis from some common medications), and have epipens, so I am completely sympathetic to real allergies.

The super annoying thing with those moms is that their kid’s allergies magically change all of the time. Usually due to something they saw on Pinterest.

Orchid Swan

I have an epipen. They must be prescribed by a doctor. You must have severe allergies to get one, i.e. a past history of anaphylaxis or high risk of it.

No doctor would prescribe it due to some mother’s self diagnosis. And that is the type of mother the author is talking about.

Orchid Swan

The fakers actually hurt people with real allergies because people start assuming everyone is faking :-/

Jessica Bettis

Yes, the article said that the person writing it knew that there were real allergies. However, she isn’t talking to them! Maybe your reading comprehention skills suck or something, because she was talking about people faking allergies and forcing their children to have special foods when they don’t need it. I personally know a lot of people that do this, and it is completely stupid.

Dime3

My reading comprehension isn’t what sucks. Re-read my comment so you can see why some people including myself found problem with this article. Why was this article beneficial to You. Because you know people who fake allergies?. People are purposely poising children and family members (cause they know they are faking an allergy). Wish I could hand someone My emergency bill for breaking out in hives. Smh

Jessica Bettis

“What was helpful about this article. It was an attack on what she decided was fake.” She didn’t decide allergies were fake. She was speaking about people who fake allergies in their children just so they can be extra protective? They’re hurting their children instead of helping them.

Dime3

” I can’t be alone in thinking that a good portion of these allergies are invented, or dependent on other factors — otherwise, why is it that we all survived a childhood where special occasions were punctuated by fun food? ”“Show me the proof!” “I will do a (secret) eye roll if I suspect you of being a faker.”

She doesn’t know! She is adding to the people who suspect and are looking at other parents as if they are liars. She adds to the People who think if I keep sneaking the allergy I will help them grow a tolerance. Really just Stop judging well inteteded, mother knows best parents and raise your own children. That is why People have a problem with this article. It is dangerous to assume, yes “assume” that you know the truth. It adds to the parents who are trully struggling with their child’s allergies and being given a hard time cause people think this is “invented or dependent on other factors”. The whole point in short, don’t add more suspicions to others stupidity.

Jessica Bettis

The person mentioned that she understood real allergies. They even said they had a real allergy. However, she is not talking about those people. Consider re-reading the article.

Terrie Whitehead

After reading the article and every single comment I’d like to put in my two cents. I am a culinary student, daughter and sister to someone with a severe allergy, and I worked at a preschool so I have multiple perspective.As a culinary student I agree with the writer as a chef people saying they are allergic to something when they are not is annoying. When you tell a server you are allergic to something that means in the kitchen we have to disinfect a separate area and make your meal making sure their is no contact to the allergen which i have no problem doing as a chef. However if you are faking it that means we did a lot of extra work to fuel your fantasy just because you decided to be vegan that day and don’t want beef broth in your French Onion Soup (which is the base in the soup).As a family member of two people with allergens I am sympathetic to all the momma’s in the comment section with children with actual allergies. The writer is not talking about you. I understand what it is like to have people not believe you when your father says he will die if he eats fish but guess what we also don’t go to a fish house. I have people walk into Chik fil A telling me they have a peanut allergy even though EVERYONE knows they fry their chicken in peanut oil. Don’t go to a place if they serve you allergen in abundance.Finally as a preschool worker I understand the struggle of dealing with the general public and there lack of knowledge on allergens. One of my kids was allergic to gluten and we still had parents send cupcakes to the class for birthdays. Luckily she was old enough to understand everything but it still wasn’t fair to her. Her mother sent lunches that she could eat though and we worked with the mother to make the school a safe environment. However as a college student I know students who make the choice to be vegan harass the cafe workers about being allergic to a laundry list of things so that they can get the food they want to eat.Basically what i am saying is bad people exist in the world that lie about their allergies however for everyone of those bad people their are 9 people that struggle with allergies that are real and deadly

Sarah Baugh

Well. I can agree fakers are annoying and make it hard for the rest of us, but corn allergies are a large part of the problem. Corn allergies aren’t based on proteins like most allergies. They often turn up negative on tests. Persons with corn allergies can have a wide variety of symptoms which may not include anaphylaxis, but that doesn’t make them any less serious. My 17 month old is allergic to corn. He suffered severe stomach pains, extreme hives, severe swelling, vomiting, diarrhea, bloody stool, weight loss, failure to thrive, sleeplessness (slept in 10 minute intervals), and vitamin deficiencies. Some might say he is simply “intolerant,” but I assure you, it’s much deeper than that.

People with corn allergies often appear to be allergic to “everything” because corn is in everything. There are literally over 100 corn derivatives, and almost everything you buy at a grocery store has corn in it or on it, even if it doesn’t say so. Even the few products that claim to be “corn free” (like enjoy life) are not corn free. It isn’t a top 8, so it doesn’t have to be labeled, either.

Also, children under 3 often do not test positive to true allergies on skin tests. The results are so often wrong, many doctors refuse to perform them on young children. Does that mean moms like me should feed our children known allergies just because they won’t give us a test to confirm? Are we fakers??